CACK 


S 

036 

406 


A     LETTER 


ON 


CURRENCY    MATTERS  ; 


TO    THE 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


BY  ONE  OF  THE  PEOPLE, 


NEW  - 


PRINTED   BY   T.    &    Cj 

No.  16 


,   STATIimERS, 

* 


INTRODUCTORY  HINTS  TO  THE  READER. 


THE  following  pages  are  written  with  less  inten- 
tion to  captivate  the  mind  by  elegant  diction  and 
arrangement,  than  to  instruct  by  simple  illustration. 
Every  man  has  his  world — "  What  will  Mrs.  Grun- 
dy  say  ?"  Every  man  in  "  his  world,"  or  circle,  has 
in  his  mind's  eye  a  Mrs.  Grundy,  whom  he  fears  or 
desires  to  please ;  but  it  so  happens,  that  one  man's 
Mrs.  Grundy  is  not  another  man's  Mrs.  Grundy, 
and  hence,  some,  or  any  particular  Mrs.  Grundy,  is 

• 

not  pleased  or  propitiated  by  any  attempt,  unless 
it  so  happens  that  the  attempt  is  so  guarded  and 
protected  by  truth  and  common  sense,  that  the  most 
captious  Mrs.  Grundy  can't  gainsay  it  —  it  re- 
mains to  be  seen  how  many  Mrs.  Grundys  will  find 
ground  enough  to  assemble  a  formidable  opposition 
to  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  following  pages  5 
that  they  will  please,  or  be  approved  by  all  is  not 
expected.  The  first  object  of  the  writer  is  not  so 
much  to  instruct  the  instructed,  as  to  give  such 
hints  to  the  uninstructed  that  they  may  not  be  hum- 


20O3524 


IV 

bugged  by  the  demagogue  5  and  as  among  naviga- 
tors, after  a  long  storm  and  no  sunshine,  there  is 
nothing  so  natural  and  sure,  as  to  take  advantage 
of  the  first  chance  for  accurate  observation,  to 
know  where  we  arc,  so  it  is  in  politics  5  a  storm  has 
been  raging :  pure  democracy  got  befogged :  it 
found  itself  mixed  up  with  palaces,  lobster  sallad, 
and  champaign  :  hard  currency  and  no  currency  : 
new,  if  not  selfish  experiments :  but  no  useful  re- 
sults :  hence  it  paused,  and  took  an  observation 
and  a  new  departure,  and  starts  anew  from  the  Log 
Cabin  and  Hard  Cider. 

This  determination  is  soothing  to  the  alarmed 
patriot,  for  he  sees  in  it  that  the  people  are  true  to 
themselves  5  that  every  honest  man,  however  hum- 
ble his  station,  feels  his  identity  as  a  freeman,  and 
determines  that  he  is  part  and  parcel  of  the  body 
politic  ,  and  that,  although  the  public  servant  may 
for  a  season  usurp  the  powers  of  a  master,  he  will 
be  told  through  the  ballot-box,  who  in  reality  is 
master. 

In  our  money  matters,  it  seems  that  every  con- 
trivance has  been  resorted  to,  to  bewilder,  perplex, 
and  deceive  5  and  so  ingeniously  have  things  been 
managed  or  mismanaged,  that  many,  very  many, 
have  become  disgusted  with  the  very  name  of  Banks, 
and  Currency,  and  Corporations. 

The  following  humble  attempt  is  respectfully 
offered,  to  sift  the  matter  a  little,  and  see  how  we 
stand  ;  and  if  it  should  so  happen  that  one  mis- 


guided  mind  be  directed  to  an  honest  and  reasona- 
ble, and  patriotic  view  of  the  subject,  or  rendered 
capable  so  far  of  understanding  the  matter,  as  to 
shield  him  hereafter  from  the  influence  of  the  self- 
ish and  partizan  demagogue,  the  Author  will  feel 
more  joy  over  that  man  thus  instructed,  than  over  the 
ninety  and  nine  who  need  no  instruction.  And  to 
the  latter  he  would  simply  say,  that  should  they  see 
instances  where  more  could  or  should  be  said,  or 
further  illustrations  adopted  or  extended,  to  bear  in 
mind  old  Jabez  Stiles'  caution  to  his  captain : 
"  Never  to  write  a  letter  too  long  to  be  good  for 
nothing  j"  to  avoid  which  liability,  the  Author 
has  been  impelled  to  forego  the  discussion  of  many 
incidental  points,  not  the  least  ^of  which  is  the  abso- 
lute injustice  and  consequent  danger  to  a  people's 
interest,  in  their  permitting  an  Executive  power, 
or  any  other  power,  but  their  own  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, to  possess  the  ability  of  affecting  the  value 
of  any  thing  by  an  exposition  of  an  opinion  so  far 
conclusive  or  dogmatical,  as  to  be  in  a  measure  the 
law  of  the  land.  What  better  source  of  revenue 
could  an  Executive  Chief  require,  than  the  ex- 
istence of  that  state  of  things  in  the  public  mind 
which  allowed  his  will  to  be  law  5  or  even  that  will 
having  a  controlling  influence  over  the  law-making 
power,  which  would  be  measurably  the  same  thing  ? 
Ask  any  broker  in  Wall  street  what  he  would  be 
willing  to  give  for  the  power  of  affecting  the  value 


VI 

of  any  stock  by  the  expression  of  his  opinion  or 
will  ? 

The  impression  that  no  Executive  would  be 
likely  to  abuse  this  right,  is  no  reason  why  he 
should  possess  it :  for,  admit  the  rule,  and  there  can 
be  no  necessity  for  any  check  or  restraint,  or  de- 
fined rule  of  action,  as  pointed  out  by  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  Laws. 

It  is  precisely  the  difference  existing  between  a 
government  conducted  by  one  man's  will,  arid  a 
government  conducted  by  a  system  of  laws  which 
have  been  framed  by  the  will  of  the  people,  for  their 
general  good,  and  not  exclusively  for  any  particu- 
lar individual :  the  difference,  in  fact,  between 
an  unlimited  monarchy  and  a  democratic  re- 
public. 


TO  THE 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


THERE  is  a  fable  which  describes  a  congregation  of  birds, 
called  together  for  the  purpose  of  fixing  upon  a  plan  of 
building  a  nest — for,  up  to  that  period,  only  one  class  of  birds 
had  a  nest  which  was  deemed  a  very  perfect  one,  having  a 
snug  and  tight  top  as  well  as  bottom,  and  a  convenient  hole 
in  the  side.  One  of  this  class  of  birds  offered  his  services- 
to  give  a  lesson  of  instruction.  He  first  began  by  selecting 
a  suitable  position  in  a  limb  of  the  tree,  and  called  particular 
attention  to  this  point,  as  indispensable^-whereupon  the  crow 
caw'd  out  a  hoarse  note,  and  said,  "  Any  fool  would  know 
as  much  as  that."  The  lecturer,  undaunted  by  this  uncour- 
teous  remark,  next  proceeds  with  sticks,  and  grass,  and 
moistened  clay — blending  and  fastening  all  together  as  he 
proceeded,  and  lining  the  inside  with  softer  materials  ;  but, 
at  every  step  of  his  progress,  some  bird  or  other  would 
chirp  out  a  note  of  astonishment — "  that  the  lecturer  or  in- 
structor should  suppose  that  such  simple  work  required  in- 
struction, for  any  bird  having  beak  and  claw  could  do  the 
same  by  intuition !"  The  nest  being  half  finished,  the  instruc- 
tor's patience  forsook  him,  and  turning  to  the  circle  about 
him,  he  said,  '^Really,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  I  find  you  so 


intelligent  and  so  familiar  in  the  art  of  nest-building,  that 
it  would  be  but  a  waste  of  labor  on  my  part  to  proceed. 
The  nest  is  now  half  made,  and  I  leave  you  to  finish  it." 
And  with  that  he  flew  away.  And  from  that  day  to  the 
present,  the  generality  of  birds  have  been  compelled  to  con- 
tent themselves  with  a  half  nest ;  when,  by  a  little  patience 
and  a  little  more  courtesy,  they  might  have  enjoyed,  and 
their  successors  after  them,  a  good,  well  covered  nest,  and 
protection  against  all  weathers. 

This  simple  fable  is  introduced  to  apply  no  further  than 
to  counsel  patience  whilst  we  proceed  in  the  subject  before 
us,  for  it  is  purposed  so  to  conduct  the  investigation,  that 
perhaps,  before  it  is  even  half  finished,  its  simplicity  may 
lead  to  a  feeling  of  surp/ise,  if  not  an  exclamation,  not  un- 
like the  crow's  in  the  fable,  "  That  any  fool  would  know  as 
much  !"  It  will  not  escape  notice,  however,  and  the  expe- 
rience of  many  will  attest  the  truth  of  the  remark,  that  there 
are  many  things  which  appear  so  simple,  that  few  take  the 
trouble  to  investigate  them,  and  without  an  investigation 
into,  and  familiarity  with,  their  simple  elements,  an  attempt 
at  construction  generally  results  in  complete  failure. 

The  subject  matter  to  which  I  purpose  devoting  the  fol- 
lowing pages,  I  could  readily  wish  was  one  of  more  novel- 
ty ;  but,  such  as  it  is,  I  can  only  assert  my  solemn  convic- 
tion, that  next  to  that  which  directs  and  interests  man's  des- 
tiny hereafter,  I  know  of  nothing  of  deeper  interest  to  him 
in  this  trading  world,  than  matters  of  money.  And  that 
next  to  sound  morals,  in  my  judgment,  stands  a  sound  cur- 
rency. The  period  seems  propitious,  nor  can  the  attempt 
be  called  presumptuous,  to  undertake  a  simple  discussion  of 
this  question  of  currency,  when  it  appears  that  the  wisest 
men  in  the  world,  (in  other  matters,)  are  as  to  this  matter,- 
completely  at  variance  :  some  either  knowing  too  much  or 
too  little  regarding  it,  and,  in  the  contest,  leaving  large 


masses  knowing  nothing  at  all.  We  have  seen  one  set  of 
men  carefully  constructing  a  fabric  and  system  which  un- 
deniably performed,  even  more  for  public  good,  than  they 
dared  to  hope  it  would  ;  and  in  the  midst  of  its  success,  we 
have  seen  another  set  of  men  professing  more  wisdom,  as 
deliberately  tumble  it  into  ruin  ;  and  now  we  see  both  sets 
looking  on  the  ruin,  as  it  were,  waiting  for  public  sentiment 
to  pronounce  which  was  the  wise,  and  which  the  foolish. 
One  thing  is  pretty  evident,  both  parties  cannot  be  equally 
wise  in  this  matter ;  the  "  cap  and  bells"  most  surely  belongs 
to  one  of  them ;  but  it  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  trouble 
myself  in  adjusting  this  matter.  I  leave  that  to  the  people, 
who,  though  they  may  require  time  in  deciding,  are  gene- 
rally found  unerring  in  their  decision. 

The  subject  of  Currency,  as  usually  discussed,  I  can  easily 
conceive  to  be,  to  the  minds  of  many,  an  almost  mysterious 
science — one  that  but  few  care  to  master,  and  the  many  take 
for  granted,  and  let  it  pass — it  is  measurably  not  unlike  the 
science  of  steam.  How  many  of  us  are  dragged  or  paddled 
about  the  world  by  this  extraordinary  power  of  steam,  with 
its  valves,  and  pistons,  and  cylinders,  and  cranks,  and  cog- 
wheels, and  yet  how  few  of  us,  if  called  on  to  explain  the 
actual  use  of  this  or  that  pipe,  or  cylinder,  or  pump,  can 
give  a  lucid  or  practical  explanation  of  them.  I,  at  least, 
frankly  confess  that  the  whole  combination  was  for  years  a 
sealed  book  to  me.  I  knew  there  was  hot  water  and  cog" 
wheels ;  but  the  "  modus  operand!"  of  applying  the  one  to- 
the  other,  was  like  Tony  Lumpkin's  puzzle  between  the  Z 
and  the  R.  It  was  in  vain  to  look  for  information  from  the 
books ;  the  karned  writers,  no  doubt,  intended  to  be  very 
clear  and  explicit,  but  they  seemed  to  forget  that  they  were 
called  on  to  instruct  the  uninstructed.  They  seemed  more 
desirous  to  show  to  the  learned  and  intelligent  engineer,  that 
if  they  did  not  know  more  than  he  did,  they  knew  at  least 
2 


10 

as  much  ;  and  hence,  I  found  myself,  from  title-page  to  finis* 
involved  in  and  perplexed  by  technicalities — atmospheric- 
pressures,  vacuums,  and  so  forth  ;  and  it  \vas  not,  in  fact,, 
till  an  accidental  opportunity  offered,  under  guidance  of  a 
plain-minded  engineer,  for  examining  carefully  a  steam 
engine  in  the  progress  of  construction,  that  I  at  all  compre> 
bended  the  true  character  of  this?  mighty  combination  of 
power  :  (I  took  care,  however,  at  the  time,  to  avoid  the  folly 
of  the  birds  in  the  fable,  or  this  steam-instructor  might  have 
left  me  with  the  knowledge  of  half  an  engine,  limiting 
his  instruction  to  the  "  cut-off.") 

Measurably  so  has  it  been  with  me,  in  regard  to  Banks 
and  Currency.  Here  we  have  technicalities  also,  and  scien- 
tific cognomens  ;  "  contractions"  and  "  expansions"  ;  "  dis- 
count lines"  ;  "  deposit  lines" ;  "  suspensions"  ;  "  resump- 
tions" ;  "  circulation"  ;  "  liabilities"  ;  "  elastic  debt"  ;  "  dead, 
debt"  ;  "  coin"  ;  "  currency"  ;  "  safety-fund"  ;  and  so  forth. 
Now,  what  comes  nearer  to  Hebrew,  than  these,  to  a  large 
number  of  fellow-citizens,  who  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
banks  than  taking  their  bills  in  payment  of  debt,  and  passing 
them  round  from  hand  to  hand  as  money :  they  hope  they 
are  good  and  reliable,  just  as  they  hope  a  steamboat  or  rail- 
road cars  and  locomotive  are  ;  they  hope  neither  will  blow 
up,  so  long  as  they  are  passengers  at  least,  but  go  on  safely. 
Thus  far,  they  feel  it  incumbent  on  those  who  manage  to  look 
to  these  matters,  and  if  trouble  comes,  to  see  the  cause  ex- 
plained ;  and  if  error  exists  in  the  system,  to  have  it  cor- 
rected, if  hi  the  management  to  correct  that — even  to  the 
punishment  of  fraud  or  neglect,  should  such  be  proved  to 
exist.  It  is  important,  however,  that  they  themselves  should 
at  least  know  enough  about  the  character  of  the  machine 
and  its  management,  that  they  may  understand  where  the 
error  may  be  traced  ;  and  it  is  with  this  view  that  I  purpose 
to  sketch,  in  as  simple  a  way  as  possible,  my  notions  in  re- 


11 

gard  to  Banks,  Banking,  and  Currency :  and  my  only  au- 
thority for  doing  so  results  from  the  accidental  fact,  (as  in 
the  case  of  the  steam  engine.)  of  an  opportunity  having 
been  offered  to  me  of  aiding  in  the  construction  of  a  bank, 
and  noting  the  operation  of  things  connected  therewith. 

I  shall,  for  convenience'  sake,  and  for  greater  perspicuity, 
conduct  the  inquiry  under  separate  heads: 

1st.  The  probable  origin  of  paper  money,  and  its  natural 
transitions  from  its  primitive  aristocratic  character  to  its 
present  transitions,  under  democratic  corporate  formations  ; 

2.  The  influence  of  paper  money,  or  what  may  be  called 
a  Credit  Currency,  upon  trade  and  intercourse  with  other 
nations,  showing  the  probable  effect  of  abandoning  the 
system  as  a  retaliatory  measure,  and  the  natural  condition  of 
a  hard-currency  people  dealing  with  a  paper-currency  people ; 
and, 

3d.  A  common  sense  view  of  the  whole  matter,  without 
resorting  to  statistical  tables,  and  puzzling  the  brain  by  mil- 
lions of  figures,  but  leaving  every  man  to  see  that  2  and  2 
make  4,  if  added  together,  (though  by  an  ingenious  system 
of  reasoning,  the  same  figures  may  be  so  placed  that  many 
assert,  and  cause  others  to  believe,  that  2  and  2  make  22.) 

First,  then,  as  to  the  probable  origin  of  paper  money.  I 
say  probable,  because  it  is  difficult  to  date  the  ezact  period 
when,  or  the  exact  form  in  which,  it  originated.  There 
was  a  period,  no  doubt,  when  there  was  no  paper  money ; 
but  money  of  some  kind  or  other  was  adopted  at  a  very 
early  period  of  the  world.  An  examination  of  a  collection 
of  ancient  coins  tells  us  there  was  a  time  when  brass,  cop- 
per, iron,  (and  other  precious  metals  we  now  call  base,) 
were  used  as  money.  At  that  period,  gold  and  silver  were 
almost  too  rare  and  precious  to  be  used  as  a  currency,  or 
measure  of  value.  In  time,  however,  gold  and  silver  be- 
came more  plenty,  and  were  adopted  as  coin;  and  iron. 


12 

brass,  and  copper  became  too  plenty  and  abundant  for  that 
purpose.  How  long  it  may  be  before  even  gold  and  silver 
will  become  too  abundant  for  current  measures  of  value,  and 
cease  to  be  used  and  adopted  as  coin  to  that  end,  it  may  not 
here  be  necessary  to  calculate.  Already  silver  has  ceased 
to  be  a  coin,  or  convenient  measure  of  value  in  England,  in 
consequence  of  its  abundance  ;  and  no  one  can  force  a  re- 
ception of  it  as  a  legal  tender  over  £5  sterling,  in  payment' 
of  a  debt,  any  more  than  he  could  iron,  or  brass,  or  copper, 
or  block  tin.  No  one  can  say,  then,  that  the  time  will  not 
come,  when  gold,  for  the  same  reason,  may  follow  the  foot- 
steps of  its  "illustrious  predecessor,"  silver,  and  join  the 
great  family  of  baser  metals,  and  go  by  weight  along  with 
them. 

This  may  not  come  in  our  day ;  but  it  is  a  matter  that 
will  at  least  teach  us  that  there  are,  in  this  world,  other 
property  and  other  things,  valuable,  besides  gold  or  silver, 
which  metals  of  late  seem  to  have  figured  before  the  brain 
of  some  of  our  citizens  in  high  stations,  as  the  only  deside- 
ratum of  life,  and  all-obsorbing  object  of  governmental  ac- 
tion ;  and  for  the  possession  of  which,  all  other  interests  of 
the  country  and  the  whole  fabric  of  industry  have  been  up. 
set  and  tumbled  into  as  much  confusion  as  a  Missouri  buffalo 
bull,  wild  from  his  native  prairies,  would  occasion  among  the 
gpindles  of  a  cotton  factory. 

There  naturally  must  exist  some  "  measure  of  value,"  be 
it  what  it  may ;  and  that  which  is  most  rare,  but  of  conve- 
nient abundance  for  coin,  and  least  liable  to  change  or  fluc- 
tuate, will  be  adopted  in  all  civilized  communities.  For  the 
present  we  require  gold  and  silver  as  that  measure  of  value. 
Congress  directs  what  quantity  of  either  in  weight  shall  con- 
stitute a  dollar  of  value,  and  no  other  coin  shall  be  deemed 
a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  just  debts  between  man  and 
man.  This  is  a  fundamental  law  with  us,  and  no  power 


13 

can  change  it ;  neither  Congress,  or  State  Legislatures,  or 
any  other  power  in  the  country  ;  and  here  I  would  call  my 
reader's  especial  attention  to  this  fact,  (which  I  may  here- 
after recur  to,)  and  from  which  he  will  sec  the  marked  dis- 
tinction between  us  and  such  other  nations  with  which 
some  of  our  demagogues  have  presumed  to  compare  us, 
and  who  ignorantly  or  wilfully  have  attempted  to  identify 
our  paper  currency  with  that  of  nations  which  assume  the 
right  of  making  their  paper  money  the  measure  of  value,  and 
a  legal  tender  between  man  and  man.  It  is  not  so  here,  nor 
can  it  be  ;  and  so  long  as  we  stick  to  this  great  and  funda- 
mental principle,  that  nothing  but  gold  or  silver  shall  be  a 
legal  tender  between  man  and  man,  (so  long  as  these  precious 
metals  continue  precious  enough  for  the  purpose,)  what  have 
we  to  fear  from  a  depreciated  paper  currency  of  our  own 
country  ?  I  assert,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  we  bear 
no  comparison  or  analogy  with  or  to  such  nations  who  as- 
sume the  power  of  creating  a  paper  currency,  and  say, 
"  this  is  equal  to  so  much  gold  or  silver,  and  is  equally  a 
legal  tender  between  man  and  man."  No  such  power  in 
government,  state  or  general,  exists  here,  and  there  can  con- 
sequently be  no  depreciated  paper  currency  here  as  un- 
derstood in  other  paper  money  countries.  We  may  have 
bank  notes  and  individual  notes,  which  we  may  take  in  ex- 
change for  other  things,  and  we  may  measure  them  in  their 
ability  to  be  paid  in  gold  and  silver  on  demand,  or  through 
the  process  of  law,  and  take  our  chance  for  final  redemption, 
and,  according  to  the  delay,  or  trouble,  or  risk  of  obtaining 
payment,  value  them  accordingly;  but  of  this  hereafter. 
We  return  to  the  probable  or  natural  origin  of  paper  money. 
In  any  civilized  country  under  the  protection  of  laws  se- 
curing the  possession  of  property  and  enforcing  the  perform- 
ance of  contracts,  there  will  naturally  exist  a  proportionate 
degree  of  mutual  confidence.  Now,  it  is  not  possible  to  con- 


14 

ceive  that  the  people  of  such  a  country  would  not  as  natu- 
rally resort  to  a  paper  representation  of  metallic  money,  as 
they  would  adopt  any  other  method  of  facilitating  or  conve- 
niencing  their  intercourse. 

Suppose,  for  example,  in  this  country  up  to  this  period,  no 
such  thing  as  trading  or  buying  and  selling  between  distant 
parts  of  the  country  had  been  conducted  except  with  "hard 
money"  how  long  would  any  one  individual  in  New  York 
enjoy  exclusively  to  himself  the  advantage  he  certainly 
would  possess  over  his  neighbors,  were  he  to  conceive  the 
plan  of  depositing  his  coin  in  the  hands  of  some  well-known 
person,  and  taking  his*  receipt,  promising  to  deliver  up  said 
coin  on  the  presentation  of  said  receipt,  and  sending  or  taking 
said  receipt  to  New  Orleans,  or  St.  Louis,  or  Cincinnati,  where 
he  might  require  to  make  purchases  of  produce,  and  being 
quite  sure  he  would  meet  at  either  of  said  places  some  tra- 
der like  himself,  who  might  desire  to  transport  coin  to  New 
York  to  make  purchases  there  of  merchandize,  would  not 
such  a  receipt  for  coin  deposited  in  a  safe  and  reliable  hand 
in  New  York  be  exactly  what  the  New  Orleans,  St.  Louis, 
or  Cincinnati  man  would  desire  to  possess  ?  And  would  he 
not  readily  pay  its  amount  in  coin  at  either  of  these  places 
instead  of  lugging  said  coin  across  a  wide  country,  exposed 
as  it  would  be  to  all  the  vicissitudes  to  which  it  would  be 
liable  ?  Two  long  journeys  of  coin  are  thus  saved.  And  is 
not  said  receipt  just  so  much  more  valuable  than  coin  for  all 
said  purposes  of  trade  and  intercourse  between  distant  and 
remote  points,  as  the  amount  it  saves  of  the  expense  and  risk 
of  transporting  coin?  And  is  it  probable,  therefore,  that 
such  a  labor  and  risk  saving  system  would  long  remain  un- 
used or  unadopted  by  all  engaged  in  the  great  and  multifa- 
rious branches  of  trade  and  commerce  ? 

This  receipt,  then,  may  be  justly  denominated  \he  first- 
born  of  paper  money.  It  is  the  offspring  of  that  natural  con- 


15 

fidence  between  man  and  man  which  will  exist  in  all  coun- 
tries where  laws  exist  to  enforce  contracts.  No  one  will 
deny  that  such  receipts  for  coin  actually  deposited  in  safe 
and  reliable  hands  would  be  at  least  "  as  good  as  gold,''  and 
consequently  "  a  sound  currency."  Equally  certain  is  it 
that  such  receipts  would  scarcely  be  so  regarded,  and  could 
not  be  used  with  confidence,  if  given  by  such  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  usually  denominated  "  poor  devils,"  having  no  repu- 
tation for  virtue,  integrity,  or  honor.  Hence  it  is  apparent, 
that  whatever  of  remuneration  might  follow  this  system  of 
holding  coin  and  giving  receipts  for  the  same,  would  be  en- 
joyed exclusively  by  such  of  our  fellow-citizens  who  had 
established  a  good  name,  and  especially  such  as  were  known, 
far  and  wide,  to  possess  large  means  of  their  own ;  for  in 
matters  of  confidence  of  this  nature,  men  will  first  look  to 
reputation,  and  next  to  money  ability,  and  quite  as  often  to 
the  latter  first,  trusting  to  the  laws  for  enforcing  contracts  as 
a  sufficient  guarantee  against  attempted  fraud.  At  any  rate, 
it  is  highly  probable  that  he  who  had  most  of  his  own  would 
get  most  of  others  in  deposit ;  and  though  the  poor  might 
not  be  made  poorer,  surely  "  the  rich  would  be  made  rich- 
er" by  this  system. 

No  one  would  hold  coin  if  he  could  find  a  safe  depository 
and  take  therefor  receipts,  which,  possessing  the  confidence 
of  all,  would  perform  all  the  duties  of  coin,  and  especially 
as  such  receipts  could  be  so  formed  as  to  secure  the  rightful 
owner  against  loss,  accident,  or  theft ;  and  so  long  as  these 
receipts  were  issued  on  an  actual  deposit  of  coin,  and  for 
nothing  else,  they  would  be  as  good,  if  not  better  than  coin, 
This  may  be  called  primitive  banking,  requiring  no  statisti- 
cal calculation  showing  the  effect  of  contraction  and  expan- 
sion. It  is  one  and  the  same  currency,  and  is  that  system 
of  banking  whi^h  perhaps  a  very  few  of  known  large  means 


10 

of  their  own  would  have  no  objection  to  see  restored,  for 
obvious  reasons. 

The  first  natural  transition  from  this  primitive  system  pro- 
bably was  that  some  very  well  known  banker,  whose  re- 
ceipts were  found  to  pass  from  hand  to  hand  far  and  wide, 
leaving  in  his  strong  box  a  large  amount  of  coin  doing  no- 
thing, would  create  other  receipts  and  loan  them  to  his  neigh- 
bors on  interest,  taking  their  "  promise  to  pay"  on  demand, 
or  at  short  periods ;  or,  beginning  more  simply,  he  might 
venture  to  loan  them  a  portion  of  the  coin  left  with  him  on 
deposit,  taking  their  "  promise  to  pay"  on  demand  as  above, 
with  interest.  The  very  coin  thus  loaned  would  come  back 
through  other  hands  to  him,  and  be  represented  by  his  re- 
ceipts, and  thus  he  would  go  on  step  by  step  till  he  had 
reached  a  point,  beyond  which,  if  he  proceeded,  he  would 
exceed  his  ability  of  redeeming  the  receipts  he  had  issued, 
with  coin  on  demand.  (Here  it  may  be  mentioned  that  by 
some  it  is  asserted  that  the  laws  of  trade  will  distinctly  desig- 
nate this  point.  No  doubt  of  it.  But  this  law  of  trade 
comes  to  tell  its  tale  after  the  mischief  is  done,  and  panic 
and  alarm  brings  unnecessary  ruin  to  many,  and  banker  and 
all  are  swept  down  by  it.  Far  better  would  it  be  for  this 
banker  and  his  dealers  if  some  indication,  some  reliable  evi- 
dence of  proximity  to  danger,  should  throw  its  beacon  light 
and  warn  him  that  the  breakers  were  near.  To  this  matter 
we  may  have  occasion  to  recur  hereafter*  Thus  much, 
then,  by  way  of  parentheses.) 

It  is  evident  that  this  system  of  banking,  so  profitable  to 
the  banker  and  convenient  to  those  who  have  coin  to  de- 
posit, and  to  those  especially  who  borrow  on  their  industry, 
would  lead  to  severe  competition  among  those  who  desired 
to  participate  in  the  profit  of  banking.  None  of  course  could 
expect  a  share  of  this  profit  unless  possessing  wealth  enough 
"to  damn  him  as  an  aristocrat;"  for,  strange  as  it  may  appear, 


17 

from  the  days  of  primitive  banking  to  its  present  extreme  of 
transition,  there  never  was  known  a  real  "up  to  the  hub," 
or,  in  more  modern  parlance,  "  a  whole  hog"  democrat,  who 
would  prefer  in  matters  of  banking  to  patronize  a  poor 
though  honest  democrat's  "  promise  to  pay,"  when  he  could 
put  his  fingers  on  a  rich  man's  "  promise  to  pay."  What, 
then,  was  a  democratic  people  to  do  ?  Were  they  to  suffer 
a  branch  of  business  so  important  as  this  to  rest  in  the  hands 
of  a  very  few,  whose  large  means  would  naturally  in  time 
become  larger,  till  perhaps  we  should  have  a  Rothschild,  a 
Hope,  a  Hottinger,  or  some  other  Jew  or  Gentile,  to  whom 
the  trading  world  would  look,  and  even  the  Government 
itself  consult,  before  undertaking  measures  requiring  money 
or  means  to  carry  out  ?  To  obviate  this  evil,  so  repugnant 
to  democratic  principles,  copartnerships  would  be  formed,, 
thus  bringing  into  one  mass  an  accumulation  of  small  means. 
But  we  all  know  the  inconvenience  of  copartnerships,  com- 
posed of  many  individuals,  in  the  process  of  "suing  and  being 
sued."  Es-pecially,  too,  in  the  event  of  death,  before  an  ex- 
piration of  the  time  of  copartnership,  when  "executors,, 
administrators  or  assigns,"  must  necessarily  be  introduced  in? 
the  "  record."  In  this-  state  of  things,  and  in  a  country  like 
ours,  where  it  is  well  that  all  have  a  little,  and  no  man  a 
great  deal, — the  admirable  and  truly  democratic  system  of 
"  incorporation"  was  adopted — a  system  which  was  not  only 
"  E  pluribus  unum,"  practically  translated,  but  which,  at  one 
blow,  scattered  to  the  winds  the  whole  fabric  of  individual 
presumption  :  a  system  admitting  any  number  of  individuals,, 
male  or  female,  the  lame,  the  halt,  and  the  blind,  the  infant 
or  decrepid,  to  come  in  with  small  means,  or  large  means/ 
and  participate  in  whatever  of  profit  or  advantage  might  be 
derived  from  any  lawful  pursuit  which  required  large  means 
to  carry  on,  or  accomplish — whether  in  Banking,  in  Canat- 
ling,  in  Railroading,  in  Bridging,  in  Turnpiking,  in  Steams 


boating,  in  Mining,  in  Gas  Lighting,  or  in  Manufactur- 
ing. With  this  peculiar  advantage,  also,  over  private  enter- 
prize,  that  in  whatever  pursuit  in  which  the  interest  of  the 
public  at  large  may  directly  or  indirectly  be  affected — can 
be  controlled  by  that  public,  through  the  corporate  form,  in  a 
manner,  which  could  not  be  applied  to  the  individual ;  for 
instance,  in  Banking,  what  law  would  square  with  the  Con- 
stitution, (the  great  charter  of  our  liberties,)  which  would 
authorize  an  examination  of  a  private  Banker's  books  and 
concerns,  and  announce  to  the  public,  that  he  was  too  far 
extended,  and  therefore  dangerous  to  trust  ?  What  law 
could  present  to  him  that  he  might  issue  receipts,  (which  we 
may  now  call  Bank  notes,)  only  for  coin  deposited  with  him, 
or  for  a  certain  amount  beyond  the  actual  coin,  and  count 
the  same  in  his  strong  box,  and  examine  his  other  securities  ? 
What  law  could  prevent  him  from  issuing  his  "  promise  to 
pay,"  on  a  deposit  of  iron  or  lead,  or  any  other  metal  or 
merchandize,  or  on  assignments  of  bond  and  mortgages,  or 
any  other  security,  as  well  as  for  the  purchase  of  land  ? 
What  law  could  define  the  difference,  and  say,  this  is  a  bank 
note  issued  on  a  deposit  reliable  for  its  redemption,  and 
therefore  lawful — and  that  is  a  bank  note  or  promise  to  pay, 
issued  for  other  purposes,  and  on  other  securities,  and  there- 
fore not  lawful  ?  This  would  be  preposterous,  and  the  at- 
tempt, if  persisted  in,  would  upset  the  fundamental  principles 
of  our  Government.  But  under  the  corporate  system  all 
these  safeguards  can  be  adopted.  No  matter  how  severe 
the  restriction,  how  minute  or  exact  the  examination,  or  how 
public  and  wide-spread  the  result  of  such  an  examination 
may  be  ;  it  is  in  the  compact  and  bargain  between  the  pub- 
lic and  the  corporation,  and  the  latter  has  no  ground  of 
complaint.  The  corporate  power  is  granted  for  the  advan- 
tage of  its  wide  circle  of  stockholders,  but  the  public  retain 
the  right  of  checking,  as  far  as  practicable,  that  advantage 


10 

from  encroaching  on  public  safety.  If  in  the  progress  of  ex- 
perience, these  checks  and  supervisions  have  not  yet  reached 
an  entire  prevention  against  injury  or  fraud,  it  is  no  reason 
why  they  should  be  abandoned.  If  a  steam-engine  explodes 
and  scalds  passengers,  are  we  to  say  it  is  useless  to  con- 
tinue any  system  of  guarding  against  such  accidents  ?  is  it 
not  wiser  to  follow  up  the  precautions  which  experience 
enlightens,  and  be  assured  as  common  sense  must  tell  us, 
that  without  any  precautions,  or  check,  or  supervisions,  we 
should  very  soon  be  adrift,  and  exposed  to  more  frequent 
explosions,  as  well  in  banks  as  in  steamboats. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  of  late  in  the  modern  schools  of 
democracy  to  declare  open  and  "  uncompromising  hostility* 
against  "  corporations,"  or,  as  they  term  them,  "  corporate 
associations  of  wealth"  "Modern  democrats"  think  they 
see  danger  to  the  democracy  in  these  institutions,  and  the 
alarming  cry  is  raised  of  "  Free  Trade,  Free  Trade  in  all 
things ;  No  Monopoly  I"  What  is  the  practical  meaning  of 
this  doctrine  ?  what  the  natural  result, — should  such  senti- 
ments triumph  ? 

Can  the  demagogue  "  define  the  position"  of  things,  should 
the  corporate  system  be  demolished  ?  Will  he  look  to  the 
object  and  motive  of  its  adoption,  and  answer  an  intelligent 
democracy  ?  (He  has,  however,  put  the  question,  and 
been  answered  most  effectually  through  the  ballot-boxes* 
and,  therefore,  I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  press  the  matter 
further  here.) 

The  natural  system  of  depositing  coin,  and  using  its  re- 
presentative, would  suggest  itself  also  with  a  view  of  avoid- 
ing a  depreciation  of  the  coin  itself;  a  coin  of  gold  or  silver 
is  intended  to  contain  so  much  of  these  precious  metals,  as 
its  stamp  may  indicate.  Now  let  these  coins  go  into  active 
circulation,  and  perform  the  duties  imposed  on  their  repre- 
sentatives in  paper,  and,  after  a  few  years,  let  one  thousand 


20 

dollars  of  various  denominations,  from  a  gold  eagle  to  a  six 
cent  silver  piece,  be  promiscuously  taken  and  weighed,  and 
it  will  be  found  that  an  actual  loss  by  wear  and  tear  has 
been  sustained,  which,  if  made  applicable  to  a  bank  bill, 
would  render  it  incapable  of  circulation;  no  bank  bill  could 
be  sustained  in  circulating  with  such  an  actual  depreciation. 
It  would  go  back  to  its  source  long  before,  and  be  liqui- 
dated, and  a  better  would  take  its  place ;  and  here  we  see 
some  evidence  of  the  assertion  just  hazarded,  that  a  serious- 
ly depreciated  paper  currency  cannot  exist  in  this  country  ; 
frauds  may  be  practised,  some  " rascally  bank"  even  one  in- 
corporated, may  creep  in,  and  defraud  a  community.  But  I 
put  the  question  now  to  the  mass  of  the  trading  community, 
and  ask  if  the  loss  they  individually  have  met  by  a  depre- 
ciated paper  money,  comes  to  a  tythe  of  a  per-centage  of  the 
loss  they  may  have  experienced  in  other  securities  or  traffic  ? 

It  is  obvious  that  a  paper  currency  claiming  to  represent 
coin,  must  cease  to  circulate,  the  moment  it  becomes  de- 
preciated or  doubted  to  any  inconvenient  extent,  so  long  as 
competition  exist ;  and  the  security  here  against  a  permanent 
depreciated  currency  is  found  in  the  fact,  that  no  power  in 
Government,  (State  or  General,)  can  create  or  authorize  the 
creation  of  paper  money  as  a  legal  tender,  in  payment  of  a 
debt  between  man  and  man,  for,  be  it  remembered,  there  is 
no  other  legal  tender  but  gold  or  silver  in  these  United 
States. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  in  cases  of  ex- 
igency, has  issued  paper  money  under  the  name  of  Trea- 
sury Notes;  these  have  been  depreciated  far  below  their 
promised  value,  even  in  exchange  for  bank  notes  and  in- 
dividual notes.  The  reason  of  this  was,  first,  no  one  could 
tell  how  far  Government  would  be  compelled  to  extend  the 
issue  ;  and,  2d,  no  one  could  sue  the  Government  for  their 
redemption,  in  gold  or  silver,  as  he  could  a  bank  or  indi- 


21 

vidual.  These  Treasury  Notes  were  but  another  form  of 
borrowing  money  by  the  Government,  being  in  fact  "  Go- 
vernment Bonds,"  in  small  amounts,  "  to  suit  dealers,"  paya- 
ble when  the  Government  was  able  to  pay  them,  and  not 
before :  the  theory  being,  that  the  Government  is  the 
people,  and  the  people  cannot  sue  themselves.  But  the  Go- 
vernment retains  the  right  to  sue  any  of  the  people.  The  ap- 
parent hardship  of  this  admitted  rule  would  be  not  a  little 
increased  by  the  adoption  of  the  modern  doctrine,  by  which 
the  Government  assumed  hostility  against  all  and  any 
species  of  paper  currency,  which  the  people  desired  to 
have,  and  which  they  could  at  any  time  compel  a  redemp- 
tion of,  in  gold  or  silver, — and  at  the  same  time,  the  Govern- 
ment itself  issuing  a  clumsy  Treasury  Note,  which  could  not 
be  so  enforced,  but  might,  at  the  will  of  the  Government, 
remain  unredeemed  by  gold  or  silver  to  suit  its  convenience. 
No  wonder  the  framers  of  our  Constitution,  aware  of  this 
tendency  in  Government,  denied,  in  toto,  the  right  of  Govern- 
ment to  issue  a  paper  money  as  currency,  and  confined  it  to 
the  simple  power  of  borrowing  money  if  required, — feeling 
quite  sure,  if  the  right  to  issue  a  paper  currency  were  granted 
to  it,  it  would  soon  usurp  and  surcharge  all  the  channels  of 
circulation,  with  a  currency  which  would  practically  subvert 
the  great  and  fundamental  security  involved  in  the  fact  of 
gold  or  silver  being  alone  a  legal  tender.  And  yet  we  see 
many  in  high  places,  and  professing  democracy,  and  strict 
observance  of  the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  so  scrupu- 
lously cautious  as  to  the  sacredness  of  that  instrument,  seeing 
in  it  no  power  or  authority  to  adopt  any  law,  having  for  its 
object  the  safe  and  sound  control  of  a  currency,  redeema- 
ble in  gold  or  silver,  at  any  time  when  demanded,  and  at  the 
same  time  voting  for  the  issue  of  a  currency  which  exempts 
the  issuer  from  paying  the  same  in  gold  or  silver,  unless 
perfectly  convenient  to  him.  The  reasons  assigned  are,  "the 


banks  have  suspended  !  the  paper  circulation  of  the  banks 
is  good  for  nothing ! !  It  is  useless  for  Congress  to  attempt  an 
organization  of  a  system  which  has  so  signally  failed,  and 
as  for  corporations,  they  are  monopolies,  anti-democratic,  all 
humbug ;  and  therefore,  we  are  compelled  to  ask  gold  from 
the  people,  and  for  convenient  currency,  we  give  the  people 
Treasury  Notes"  ! ! !  And  this  doctrine  is  received  by  many 
as  sound, — unconscious  of  the  real  fraud  and  deception,  in- 
geniously cloaked  by  these  pumpkin-headed  and  cunning 
depredators. 

Let  any  honest  and  intelligent  common  sense  man  look 
back  to  our  past  history,  he  will  see  there  were  periods  of 
many  years  following  each  other,  when  there  were  no  sus- 
pensions, no  material  fluctuations — when  he  could  take  a  bank 
note  from  the  Branch  of  the  United  States  Bank  at  Maine 
and  find  it  "  as  good  as  gold"  at  any  part  of  the  country  he 
chose  to  send  it — the  revenues  of  the  country  collected  and 
disbursed  without  charge  to  the  Government,  and  without 
the  loss  of  a  cent,  all  the  sound  State  banks  working  in  their 
orbits,  and  a  sound  currency  performing  its  functions,  and 
none  but  a  sound  currency  holding  its  existence  a  moment. 
The  mechanic,  the  manufacturer,  the  planter,  or  agricultu- 
ralist, if  he  chose  to  be  his  own  merchant,  could  sell  the  pro- 
duction of  his  industry  to  his  fellow-citizens  at  the  extreme 
and  remote  parts  of  the  Union,  and  collect  his  pay  at  less 
cost  than  transporting  the  specie ;  and  if  any  thing  rendered 
our  motto,  "  E  pluribus  unum,"  a  practical  fact,  it  was  the 
sound  and  reliable  currency  we  had.  What  is  our  condition 
now  as  to  this  matter  ? 

It  was  the  democratic  party  of  its  day,  which  deemed  this 
system  not  only  constitutional,  but  indispensable ;  but  it 
seems  that  our  modern  democrats,  in  and  out  of  office,  read 
the  Constitution  differently.  They  see  no  power  specifically 
granted  by  the  Constitution  which  would  authorize  Congress 


23 

to  adopt  any  measure  calculated  to  control  a  salutary  regu- 
lation over  a  paper  currency,  and  the  people  say.  they  must 
have  a  paper  currency,  of  some  form  or  other. — Now,  lei  it 
be  asked,  where  does  Congress  find  the  right  specifically 
stated  in  the  Constitution  which  authorizes  a  law  prohibiting 
a  citizen  from  sending  the  productions  of  his  labor  coastwise 
in  a  foreign  vessel  ?  Still  this  is  positively  prohibited  by 
a  law  of  Congress.  None  but  the  American  flag  can  do 
this ;  and  though  a  foreign  vessel  might  offer  to  do  it  for 
nothing,  she  would  be  condemned  for  so  doing.  But  Con- 
gress finds  this  right,  in  that  clause  of  the  Constitution  which 
authorizes  the  passage  of  such  laws  as  may  be  found  neces- 
sary to  regulate  foreign  commerce  and  commerce  between  the 
States.  Then  again,  as  to  steamboats — (a  power  scarcely 
known  when  the  Constitution  was  formed) — in  what  part  of 
the  Constitution  does  Congress  find  the  right  to  prescribe 
certain  rules  and  regulations  as  to  the  construction  of  the 
boiler  and  the  management  of  the  engine  and  boat  ?  It  can 
nowhere  be  found,  save  in  that  common  sense  construction 
which  authorizes  the  adoption  by  law,  of  such  regulations 
and  salutary  rules  as  may  be  required  for  the  public  security. 
The  same  right  is  exercised  by  Congress  in  prescribing 
heavy  penalties  against  all  vessels  carrying  more  passengers 
than  are  allowed  to  a  certain  tonnage  j  and  even  the  quan- 
tity of  water  and  provisions  is  specified  by  the  law.  This 
is  a  humane  construction  of  the  Constitution  ;  but  humanity, 
though  it  fully  approves  the  measure,  cannot  put  its  eye. 
with  or  without  spectacles,  upon  that  clause  of  the  Constitu- 
tion specifically  granting  to  Congress  this  power ! ! 

The  framers  of  the  Constitution  have  specified  in  that  in- 
strument what  powers  Congress  shall  exercise.  Among 
these  is  the  regulation  of  foreign  commerce  and  commerce 
between  the  States.  And  after  enumerating  various  specific 
powers,  it  adds,  "  and  Congress  shall  have  power  to  pass 


24 

all  such  laws  as  may  be  found  necessary  to  carry  the  fore- 
going into  effect."  Congress  has  already  enacted  laws  re- 
garding foreign  commerce  and  commerce  between  the 
States ;  but  in  matters  of  banking,  some  wiseacres  have  dis- 
discovered  that  banking  and  currency  have  no  influence 
whatever  over  foreign  commerce  or  commerce  between  the 
States  ;  and  hence  they  say  Congress  has  no  right  to  con- 
trol, or  direct,  or  regulate  it  in  any  way  or  form.  Will 
these  politicians  come  to  practical  men  in  trade  and  tell 
them  that  a  good  and  sound  currency,  one  of  equal  value 
all  over  the  country,  has  no  favorable  influence  over  trade 
and  commerce  between  the  States,  and  that,  nice  versa,  a 
confused  and  dislocated  currency  is  not  obstructive  and  in- 
jurious to  intercourse,  and  not  at  war  with  that  great  object 
of  our  Union,  which  was  to  be  "E  pluribus  ttnum  ?"  They 
must  say  this  if  they  persist  in  asserting  that  Congress  has 
no  right  or  control  over  the  currency.  But  suppose  it  can 
be  demonstrated  that  in  the  present  advanced  state  of  the 
world,  a  state  or  nation,  with  an  exclusive  hard  currency, 
dealing  with  other  states  and  nations  using  a  well  organized 
paper  or  credit  currency,  the  former  has  no  more  power  to 
escape  being  beaten  and  outstript  by  the  latter,  than  she 
would  be,  if  denying  to  herself  the  use  of  steam  power,  and 
left  the  control  of  that  mighty  labor-saving  invention  to 
others,  and  contented  herself  with  poles,  sails,  and  cold 
water, — can  nothing  be  found  in  the  Constitution  to  autho- 
rize Congress  to  grant  to  the  people  some  law  and  regula- 
tion to  countervail  and  protect  themselves  ?  Can  the  Go- 
vernment of  this  people  find  no  sanction  in  the  Constitution 
to  this  end  ?  Yet  this  demonstration  just  alluded  to,  can  be 
furnished,  and  will  appear  under  its  proper  head. 

We  conclude  this  part  of  our  subject,  then,  after  having 
shown  as  briefly  as  the  limits  of  these  pages  will  allow,  the 
"  probable  origin  of  paper  money — its  natural  transition  from 


25 

primitive  banking — its  leading  to  competition — the  exclusive 
advantages  to  the  few  rich,  but  for  the  adoption  of  the  cor- 
porate system— the  security  to  the  public,  controlled  through 
corporate  organizations,  which  could  not  be  thus  controlled 
without  it — with  a  glance  at  what  we  once  had,  and  what  we 
now  have ;  by  which  it  will  be  seen  how  important  it  is  for 
a  people  to  watch  and  guard  against,  and  check,  early  at- 
tempts of  men  in  power,  for  we  see  in  this  matter  of  cur- 
rency how  an  Administration  step  by  step  proceeds,  giving 
plausible  reasons  for  every  step,  till  in  a  few  brief  years  the 
whole  condition  of  the  country  is  changed  from  a  sound  and 
stable  currency  to  one  of  disorder — the  nation  itself,  with  a 
full  treasury  and  out  of  debt,  now  brought  to  empty  iron 
safes,  called  sub-treasuries — industry  prostrated — the  nation 
in  debt,  and  borrowing  on  treasury  notes,  from  hand  to 
mouth,  of  the  very  banks  "  the  party"  attempted  to  despise — 
with  an  increasing  debt — the  public  revenue  squandered,  and 
partizan'officers  absconded,  and  perhaps  the  worst  not  known 
yet.  Now,  compare  this  state  of  things  with  that  departed 
from,  would  the  Administration  which  has  brought  upon  us 
these  evils  been  allowed  to  proceed,  if  the  people  could  have 
foreseen  this  result  ?  But  this  result  was  proclaimed  from 
the  house-tops  in  every  form  by  those  who  had  seen  just 
such  results  before  from  similar  causes.  But  "  the  glory"  that 
surrounded  the  Chief  was  a  passport  to  favor ;  he  gave  the 
signal  and  proclaimed  that  all  these  evil  forebodings  and  pro- 
phecies were  erroneous.  "  I  am  the  Government,"  said  he ; 
"  I  take  the  responsibility,  and  down  with  all  and  every  at- 
tempt to  oppose  me."  Modern  democracy  for  a  time  thought 
this  sound  doctrine,  and  threw  up  caps,  and  cheered  the  on- 
ward course  to  "glory  and  reform?  till  the  country  got  both 
to  its  heart's  content :  quite  enough,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  to  last 
out  the  present  generation.  What  has  been  the  cost  of  "the 
experiment"  we  cannot  exactly  tell,  till  we  see  the  end  of  it : 
4 


26 

it  was  a  great  frolic,  and,  like  all  frolics,  the  piper  is  to  be- 
paid.  But  some  will  point  to  a  period  in  the  midst  of  the 
experiment  when  all  was  going  on  most  swimmingly,  and 
say,  "  all  was  well  then — when  was  the  country  more  pros- 
perous and  happy,  prices  higher,  and  money  plentier  than 
then*?"  Never,  to-be-sure.  And  when  will  the  wheels  and 
hands- of  a  watch,  wound  up,  go  faster  than  when  you  twitch 
out  the  balance  wheel  1  But  look  at  it  when  it  has  "  run  off 
its  mortal  coil,"  has  it  lost  no  cogs  from  its  wheels  ? — Are 
all  its  springs  sound — its  pivots  unaltered  ?  And  because 
the  clumsy  hand  that  set  it  spinning  round  at  a  merry  pace 
to  destruction  cannot  restore  and  adjust  its  balance  and  for- 
mer accuracy,  is  he  to  be  allowed  to  escape  public  disap- 
probation under  the  assertion,  "that  the  machine  is  not  trust- 
worthy ?" 

2d.  As  to  the  influence  of  paper  money,  or  what  may  be 
called  a  credit  currency,  upon  trade  and  intercourse  with 
other  nations, — showing  the  probable  effect  of  abandoning 
the  system  as  a  retaliatory  measitre,  and  the  natural  condi- 
tion of  a  "hard  currency  people,  dealing  with  a  paper  cur- 
rency people." 

It  will  be  admitted,  no  doubt,  that  what  is  found  to  be  the 
best  mode  of  cultivating  a  hill  of  potatoes,  will  be  found  the 
safest  mode  to  apply  to  a  thousand  hills  or  field  of  potatoes. 
And  the  safest  and  most  savory  mode  of  mixing  and  cooking 
one  pudding,  is  equally  applicable  to  a  thousand  puddings 
of  the  same  materials.  The  remark  is  equally  applicable  to- 
banking  in  one  small  community  dealing  with  other  small 
communities,  as  the  banking  of  a  large  nation  dealing  with 
other  large  nations.  The  principle  is  identical.  Now,  for 
the  purpose  of  better  understanding  this  matter,  let  us  resort 
to  a  simple  illustration  in  a  small  way.  Let  us  suppose,  for 
example,  that  Boston  was  the  only  point  in  these  United 
States  where  there  was  an  organization  of  a  good  and  relia- 


27 

ble  bank,  its  capital  large  and  abundant  for  all  the  purposes 
of  controlling  and  securing  confidence  in  all  its  "  promises  to 
pay."  The  interests  involved  in  this  bank  would  naturally  en- 
hance all  such  interests  as  were  identified  as  part  and  parcel 
of  the  prosperity  of  Boston,  and  that  branch  of  industry 
which  was  deemed  of  greatest  importance  would  of  course 
be  most  strongly  represented  in  the  direction  of  the  affairs  of 
this  bank.  Now,  let  us  suppose  that  the  manufacturing 
interest  happened  to  be  so  regarded  as  the  abiding  and  relia- 
ble basis  of  Boston's  prosperity,  this  interest  "would  consequent- 
ly be  strongly  represented  in  the  bank  direction.  We  must 
also  suppose  that  Boston  is  the  leading  market  for  the  sale 
of  raw  materials  required  to  be  manufactured,  and  in  fact,  or 
measurably,  the  market  where  the  producer  would  send  or 
take  his  productions.  Now,  let  us  suppose  that  Charleston  is 
a  leading  point,  whence  the  shipment  of  this  raw  material  is 
made  to  Boston,  and  that  raw  material  cotton.  It  will  be 
borne  in  mind  that  all  such  productions  of  the  earth  come 
periodically.  Boston,  as  before  stated,  is  at  the  head  of  the 
credit  currency.  No  other  State  or  community  has  attempt- 
ed to  compete  with  her :  they  possess  no  such  organization. 
Now,  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands  that  it  is  this  description  of 
money  or  currency  which  alone  admits  of  expansion  or  con- 
traction, for  every  dollar  of  it  in  circulation  which  exceeds 
the  amount  of  coin  actually  deposited  is  so  much  currency, 
or  money  added  to  the  amount  of  coin,  and  is  money  just  so 
far  as  it  performs  the  functions  of  money.  Can  any  one 
doubt,  that  when  it  suited  the  interest  of  the  owners  and  di- 
rectors of  this  Boston  Bank  that  money  should  be  scarce  or 
plenty,  that  it  would  not  expand  or  contract  the  amount  of 
money  at  will  ? — or,  in  other  words,  when  Boston  manufac- 
turers were  purchasers  of  raw  cotton,  would  it  not  be  natu- 
ral that  this  bank  would  contract  the  amount  of  money,  and 
when  Boston  manufacturers  had  supplied  themselves  with 


28 

the  raw  material,  and  had  manufactured  goods  to  sell,  then 
the  money  market  would  become  more  easy  and  money 
more  abundant:  prices  of  course  measurably  varying  with  the 
scarcity  or  plenty  of  money?  What  possible  chance  would 
any  community  have  in  trading  with  another  possessing  this 
formidable  control  over  prices  by  periodical  and  timely  chan- 
ges of  the  money  market  ?  And  would  it  not  be  the  same 
in  the  case  of  an  individual  possessing  this  exclusive  power 
in  his  intercourse  with  others  ?  But  what  is  the  remedy? 
What  course  should  the  cotton  growers  adopt  to  avoid  this 
baneful  influence  ? — for,  regularly  as  their  cotton  crop  was 
ready  for  market,  they  found  complaints  general  and  wide 
that  money  was  very  scarce  and  prices  flat, — and  after  the 
crop  was  sold,  the  "  money  market"  became  easy,  and  all 
prices  advanced.  Perhaps  they  would  call  public  meetings 
and  adopt  resolutions,  and  send  a  copy  of  the  same  to  Bos- 
ton, denouncing  banks  and  calling  upon  all  good  citizens  far 
and  wide  to  go  for  "hard  currency  exclusively,"  and  no 
«  bank  rags."  Boston,  in  turn,  would  respond  to  these  reso- 
lutions, and  assure  the  cotton  growers  that  banks  were  great 
evils,  and  that  no  people,  especially  producers  of  raw  materi- 
als and  consumers  of  manufactured  goods,  should  ever  adopt 
any  such  organization,  and  that  in  fact  Boston  intended  to 
get  rid  of  hers  as  soon  as  she  could  bring  her  people  to  see 
their  folly.  They  would  even  go  so  far  as  to  induce  some  of 
their  ingenious  people  to  write  books  on  political  economy  in 
general,  and  currency  in  particular,  and  by  millions  of  figures 
show  how  much  better  a  people  are  off  without  banks  than 
with  them ;  but  yet  the  time  never  comes  for  the  people  of 
Boston  to  see  the  practical  folly  of  having  a  bank  and  being 
at  the  head  of  the  credit  currency.  The  producers  of  raw 
cotton  and  consumers  of  manufactures  grow  annually  poorer 
and  poorer,  and  Boston  and  her  manufacturers  grow  richer 


29 

and  richer.     What,  then,  is  the  true  remedy  for  the  cotton 
growers  to  adopt? 

Before  answering  this  question,  let  us  transfer  Boston  to 
Great  Britain,  and  let  our  cotton  growers  and  consumers  of 
manufactures  remain  where  they  are,  in  the  United  States, 
which  being  the  actual  condition  of  things  as  at  present,  we 
need  the  aid  of  no  further  apt  illustration. 

The  Bank  of  England  is  now  at  the  head  of  the  credit 
power  of  the  world.  If  money  is  scarce  in  England,  its  effect 
is  felt  elsewhere  just  as  soon  as  steam  power  or  other  con- 
veyance can  tell  the  story  at  the  remotest  points  where  Eng- 
land's trade  extends.  Whether  this  scarcity  or  pressure  pro- 
ceeds from  accidental  causes  or  from  interested  motives,  it 
matters  not — the  effect  is  the  same.  Money  scarce  in  Eng-^ 
land  makes  money  scarce  every  where,  and  vice,  versa.  It 
ean  scarcely  be  expected  that  the  Bank  of  England  would 
ever  admit  in  any  form  that  she  made  money  scarce  for  any 
other  reason  than  for  general  good.  That  general  good  of 
course  is  England's  good.  John  Bull  is  an  honest,  open- 
hearted  fellow,  with  this  self-satisfying  conviction  in  his  own 
mind,  that  if  he  is  well  off  in  the  world,  all  the  world  must 
feel  the  benefit  of  it  from  him, — and  therefore  he  feels  per 
fectly  authorized  to  take  care  of  himself  first,  and  then  reflect 
his  fullness  elsewhere. 

In  the  intercourse  of  nations  it  may  be  observed,  that  what- 
ever systems  are  adopted  by  any  one  nation,  their  effects  on 
other  nations  dealing  with  said  nation  are  felt  either  directly 
or  indirectly.  For  instance,  if  one  nation  should  impose  a 
tonnage  duty  on  the  vessels  of  other  nations  visiting  her 
ports,  it  is  pretty  evident  if  other  nations  do  not  impose  a  like 
tonnage  duty  on  her  vessels,  she  will  very  shortly  enjoy  the 
exclusive  carrying  trade.  This  is  so  direct  a  proposition, 
and  involves  so  little  mystery,  that  even  "  free  trade  people" 
cease  using  their  dogmas  in  opposition  to  a  retaliatory  sys- 


30 

tern.  If  one  nation  adopts  any  improvement  in  art  for  man's 
comfort,  or  in  war  for  his  destruction  builds  ships  of  war 
propelled  by  steam  or  sails,  other  nations  would  be  untrue  to 
themselves  if  regardless  thereof.  These  are  all  palpable  and 
direct  matters,  understood  by  all,  and  tell  their  own  story  too 
plainly  to  admit  of  sophistical  or  Jesuitical  reasoning.  Next 
comes  imposition  of  duties  on  the  productions  of  labor, — and 
though  a  little  more  involved,  still  it  would  seem  that  a  com- 
mon sense  view  of  the  matter  would  counsel  retaliation;  that 
is,  if  one  nation  raised  grain  and  cotton,  and  another  nation 
also  raised  grain  and  not  cotton,  but  manufactured  said  cotton 
into  cloth.  If  the  latter  nation  said,  I  will  take  your  cotton 
and  not  your  grain,  and  you  must  eat  your  own  grain  and 
consume  the  cloth  I  make  for  you,  it  is  pretty  evident  (to 
say  nothing  of  the  influence  of  the  money  power  on  prices 
just  alluded  to)  that  the  cotton  and  grain  growing  country 
would  soon  become  as  poor  as  colonists  always  have  be- 
come under  such  a  bargain.  History  tells  not  to  the  contra- 
ry, that  unless  the  producers  of  raw  materials  of  one  nation 
are  protected  by  as  wise  and  shrewd  laws  as  those  which  pro- 
tect the  manufacturing -interests  of  other  nations,  the  former 
must  inevitably  fall  a  prey  to  the  latter.  The  producers  ask 
for  free  trade  or  exchange  of  the  productions  of  industry. 
But  what  kind  of  free  trade  is  that  which  says,  I  will  take  of 
your  productions  just  what  I  choose,  and  no  more,  but  you 
must  take  of  mine  whatever  I  choose  to  send  you  ?  Unfor- 
tunately for  us  in  the  United  States,  this  question  of  retalia- 
tion has  met  opposition  among  ourselves,  in  consequence  of 
one  portion  of  our  country  producing  a  raw  material,  which 
England,  wanting,  takes  at  a  very  low  rate  of  duty,  while  she 
rejects  by  prohibitory,  or  partially  receives  under  excessive, 
duties,  nearly  all  the  other  productions  of  the  United  States, 
involving,  therefore,  a  vexed  question  among  ourselves,  not 
easily  adjusted,  whilst  certain  politicians  desire  to  keep  it  as 


31 

they  desire  to  keep  the  Abolition  question,  like  "the  raw''1 
described  by  Scott  on  the  Irishman's  horse,  which  was  kept 
so,  "  for  a  trot  up  the  avenue."  Leaving  this  matter  to  the 
return  of  a  better  state  of  sound  national  and  patriotic  feeling, 
and  to  be  adjusted  in  the  spirit  of  honest  compromise,  let  us 
recur  to  the  question  which  is  the  one  intended  mainly  to  be 
considered — the  money  power.  Here  is  a  power  which  in 
the  foregoing  pages  is  attempted  to  be  shown  as  capable  of 
exercising  a  momentous  influence ;  and  whatever  nation, 
community,  or  individual,  possesses  an  exclusive  control 
over  that  portion  of  it  which  has  been  described  as  the  credit 
currency,  must  indisputably  triumph  over  all  other  influen- 
ces in  trade,  and  eventually  bring  all  else  subject  to  it. 

Who  can  deny  that  an  individual  possessing  the  exclusive 
power  in  a  community  over  the  currency — which  he  would 
possess,  if  the  only  banker  or  person  capable  of  issuing  a 
credit  currency,  contracting  and  expanding  the  same  at  will — 
would  not,  if  he  chose  to  use  the  power,  bring  all  interests 
tributary  to  him,  so  far,  at  any  rate,  as  increasing  wealth 
could  effect  this  object  ? 

Would  not  this  power  in  a  community  of  people  exercise 
the  same  control  in  its  intercourse  with  other  communities  1 
And  precisely  so  in  the  possession  of  a  nation  in  its  inter- 
course with  other  nations  ?  There  can  be  no  difference — 
the  principle  is  the  same,  and  equally  applicable  in  all  cases. 
But  to  many  minds  it  is  an  involved  question,  perhaps  pur- 
posely rendered  so  to  bewilder  and  mislead :  its  operation 
comes  indirectly,  and  not  directly,  as  in  the  case  of  the  ton- 
nage duty.  The  question  recurs,  what  is  the  remedy  to 
counteract  its  influence  or  render  it  harmless  ?  Is  it  to  dis- 
organize a  similar  power  we  may  possess  ? — to  scatter  our 
forces,  and  pass  resolutions  denouncing  banks,  and  bank 
rags,  and  bank  barons,  and  go  for  hard  money  ?  What  an- 
swer returns  to  us  from  that  nation  which  possesses  a  com- 


32 

plete  organization  of  this  credit  currency  power — is  it  not 
precisely  such  as  has  been  already  supposed  to  come  from 
Boston  to  the  cotton  growers  ?  The  true  remedy,  then, 
must  be  to  do  as  they  do — to  organize  a  similar  power  for 
ourselves,  and  be  ready  to  counteract  whatever  of  injurious 
influence  may  be  attempted.  Thus,  if  a  sudden  fluctuation 
downward  in  their  money  market  occurred  just  as  our  cot- 
ton was  ready  for  market,  whether  by  design  or  accident, 
our  institutions  could  come  to  the  rescue,  and  save  our  plan- 
ters from  the  necessity  of  seeing  their  crop  change  hands  at 
ruinous  rates.  And,  vice  versa,  should  another  fluctuation 
upward  be  attempted  to  further  sales  of  their  manufactured 
productions  and  expand  prices,  our  institution  would  look 
to  that  also,  and  keep  matters  as  straight  as  practicable. 
The  game  would  be  a  just,  if  not  a  short  one,  where  two  can 
play  at  it. 

We  heard  nothing  of  these  extraordinary  fluctuations 
when  we  had  such  an  institution.  Who  among  us  inquired 
then,  as  we  do  now,  with  anxious  minds,  on  the  arrival  of 
every  packet  from  England,  regarding  the  action  or  condition 
of  the  Bank  of  England,  and  look  to  the  amount  of  specie  in 
her  vaults  with  as  much  interest  as  if  it  was  our  own  bank, 
and  measured  our  steps  accordingly?  They  may  have  had 
their  fluctuations,  but  they  affected  us  not — it  was  the  busi- 
ness of  our  institutions  to  watch  them — but  now  scarcely  an 
interest  in  the  country  is  not  affected  more  or  less  by  the 
course  pursuing  and  about  to  be  pursued  by  the  Bank  of 
England.  And  can  it  be  said,  then,  that  this  matter  is  not 
intimately  interwoven  with  the  foreign  commerce  of  the 
country  and  commerce  between  the  States — and  being  so,  is 
it  not  the  duty  of  Congress  to  look  to  it  ? 

Thirdly,  and  lastly.  What  do  the  people  ask  of  their  Go- 
vernment touching  this  question  ? 

They  ask  to  be  provided  with  such  a  state  of  things  as 


will  enable  any  man, — be  he  a  merchant,  a  manufacturer,  an 
agriculturalist,  or  mechanic. — to  collect  from,  or  remit  to 
any  portion  of  the  Union,  in  a  sound  and  reliable  currency, 
in  the  most  economical  manner  possible, — a  currency  con- 
vertible at  will  at  any  point  where  presented.  This  is  not 
asking  an  impossibility,  it  is  but  the  restoration  of  a  system 
the  country  had  and  prospered  under  for  two  periods  of 
20  years  each,  and  during  the  absence  of  this  system,  con- 
fusion worse  confounded  ensued.  Difficulties,  however,  pre- 
sent themselves  in  restoring  such  a  system  ;  some  still  have 
constitutional  scruples  regarding  the  right  of  Congress  to 
charter  a  bank,  regarding  it  as  an  infringement,  also,  upon 
State  rights ;  others  contend  with  more  reason,  that  capital 
has  now  so  far  directed  itself  to  the  construction  of  rail- 
roads and  other  enterprizes  of  a  similar  nature,  that  to  at- 
tempt to  create  another  large  bank  with  ample  powers, 
would  tend  to  draw  from  these  laudable  and  patriotic  en- 
terprizes the  capital  now  required  to  carry  them  to  com- 
pletion, leaving  them  unfinished  and  useless,  and  a  dead  loss 
of  what  has  been  done.  This  view  of  things  is  entitled  to 
consideration :  Congress,  if  true  to  the  vital  interests  of  the 
country,  should  pause  and  weigh  well  any  measure  that 
might  by  possibility  molest  or  arrest  the  great  work  of  in- 
ternal improvement  now  going  forward.  In  reality,  we 
want  no  additional  banking  capital,  we  have  abundant,  per- 
haps more  than  is  necessary  ;  all  that  Congress  need  do,  in 
fact,  is  to  adopt  a  simple  measure  which  will  lead  to  an  or- 
ganization of  so  much  of  the  capital  as  will  suffice  to 
furnish  a  currency  for  national  purposes,  supplying  that' 
which  the  State  institutions,  as  at  present  conditioned,  can- 
not do.  It  is  not  even  necessary  that  Congress  should  frame 
a  charter  to  this  end. 

The  fatal  error  that  was  committed  after  the  removal  of 
the  deposites  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  was  in 


34 

placing  said  deposites  in,  and  causing  the  future  receipts 
and  disbursements  of  the  public  money  to  be  made  through, 
a  number  of  banks,  selected  as  agencies  by  the  Treasury 
Department :  banks  having  no  unity  of  action  with  each 
other.  This  was  as  erroneous  and  as  certain  to  lead  to  bad 
results,  as  in  the  event  of  the  navy  or  war  departments 
assigning  twenty  Commodores  to  one  naval  station,  or  as 
many  Generals  to  the  command  of  one  military  station. 
Each  Commodore  and  each  General  moving  on  his  own 
hook,  and  reporting  alone  to  their  respective  departments. 

Now,  instead  of  such  an  arrangement,  had  Congress 
adopted  a  resolution  in  something  of  this  form,  a  great  mass 
of  evil  would  have  been  prevented,  and  all  would  have 
gone  on  smoothly.  For  practically,  it  makes  very  little 
difference  whether  Congress,  or  any  other  body  having  the 
power  to  incorporate  a  bank,  creates  said  bank,  provided  it 
is  a  bank,  with  competent  capital  and  ability  for  the  work 
assigned  it : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be  autho- 
rized and  hereby  directed  to  cause  the  public  revenue  to  be 
paid  into  such  bank,  and  its  agencies,  which  bank  shall  give 
ample  and  satisfactory  security  for  the  disbursement  of  the 
game  in  gold  or  silver,  or  their  equivalent,  free  of  charge, 
at  such  times  and  places  as  the  said  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  may  direct,  provided  said  bank  also  furnish  peri- 
odical statements,  and  agrees  to  admit  of  such  examinations 
into  its  affairs,  as  often  as  said  Secretary,  under  the  direction 
of  Congress,  shall  prescribe." 

Now,  in  this  simple  resolution  are  embraced  all  the  func- 
tions that  a  charter  from  Congress  could  give  ;  as  also,  all 
the  security  that  a  bank,  chartered  by  Congress,  could  pos- 
jsibly  control.  No  principal  could  ask  more  of  its  agent, 
and  no  agent  could  give  more  to  his  principal.  The  Trear 
gury  and  Congress  do  not  prescribe  to  said  bank  what  kind 


A     000105408     9 
35 

of  money  said  bank  shall  receive  ;  but  the  bank  is  bound  to 
pay  whatever  she  has  received,  in  gold  or  silver,  or  their 
equivalent,  wherever  or  whenever  demanded  by  the  Trea- 
sury. Said  bank  will  take  care  to  select  good  and  reliable 
agents  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  wherever  the  Government 
may  have  money  to  deposit,  or  to  disburse.  Such  an  ar- 
rangement would  be  equivalent  to  a  National  Bank,  for  all 
purposes  of  equalizing  exchanges  at  home,  by  bringing  the 
collecting  and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenue  in  harmony 
with  the  current  trade  of  the  country,  and  not  as  now  in  its 
eccentric  character,  crossing  and  re-crossing  the  tracks  o* 
trade,  and  so  far  disturbing  and  harrassing  the  latter  as  to 
disable  it  from  furnishing  revenue. 

If  something  of  this  form  is  not  adopted,  or  an  entire  re- 
organization of  a  National  Bank,  we  can  never  see  that 
prosperity  restored,  which  once  saw  all  the  interests  of  the 
country,  in  all  the  branches  of  productive  industry,  pro- 
gressing side  by  side,  slowly  but  surely.  The  East  from  the 
West,  and  the  North  from  the  South,  will  gradually  become 
more  and  more  distant,  less  and  less  familiar  in  in- 
tercourse— and  our  national  motto,  already  quoted,  be  as 
applicable  to  the  nations  of  Europe  as  to  these  United 
States. 

We  may  boast  of  our  hard  currency,  and  lock  it  up  in 
our  iron  boxes  ;  but  what  is  its  pother  compared  to  that  of 
a  people  or  nation  having  the  control  of  the  credit  power, 
and  the  credit  currency  of  the  world  ?  The  possession  of 
gold,  without  this  power,  is  like  cold  water  in  a  steam-boiler; 
but  give  to  a  nation  or  people  the  ability  of  "  firing  up," 
and  converting  at  will  this  cold  water  into  steam,  and  the 
control  of  the  engine,  with  its  cranks,  and  piston  rods,  and 
safety  valves,  and  cut-offs — and  what  becomes  of  your 
gold — your  cold  water  power. 

The  Author  of  these  pages  would  be  erroneously  judged, 


if  classed  among  those  who  prefer  paper  to  coin,  banks  t5 
no  banks,  protected  trade  to  free  trade ;  but  he  is  called  on 
to  discuss  matters  as  they  are,  not  as  he  could  wish  them: 
And  he  has  no  idea  of  going  on  foot,  when  all  the  world 
beside  avail  of  railroads  or  steamboats  ;  nor  counselling 
such  a  course  to  others,  because  his  reason  tells  him  they 
would  be  left  in  the  rear. 

For  himself,  it  matters  little  what  fluctuations  or  revul- 
sions come,  he  can  hang  his  wheel  in  such  a  way  as  it  will 
turn  as  well  with  a  flood,  as  an  ebb  tide. 

But  he  is  not  of  those  who  may  enjoy  success  in  the 
sight  of  prostration  and  ruin  around  them.  He  would 
much  prefer  to  see  all  interests,  all  branches  of  industry, 
prosper  slowly,  but  surely;  and  take  his  humble  share  with 
his  fellow-citizens,  feeling  perfectly  sure,  that  in  their  abiding 
prosperity  is  involved  inseparably  the  abiding  prosperity  of 
our  common  country. 

ONE  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 


POSTSCRIPT, 

J>ln  WOW        .'..vixKTl    7ff>iJ1     }!  •••'!!'; 

TO    THE 

-od  isJIjsm  i;  ai  ,yonom  Jnuru'.'  <•;  ••'    ;  •• 

LETTER  ;<>F  "ONE  OP  THE  PEOPLE." 

•  M     .woJeiK)  iryrij^-m  jqa  bli/QW  oil  ,iM»ri)  -)ol 
uoiiw  ^uiwofi/!  b*i!i  ,!io  o-j 


•n/;vifi  oa  fl/?3.»ri.tv9nonrt  wl 
;l  gj;  %HO[  afe  bins  j  Lnuo-i  li« 

I\  stating  the  importance  of  keeping  "  the  receipts  and 
disbursements  of  the  public  revenue  in  harmony  with  the 
current  trade  of  the  country"  the  Author  might  at  the 
time  have  given  an  illustration  of  his  meaning,  which  he  now 
purposes  to  do. 

Let  us  suppose  that  Mr.  A.  is  a  large  property  owner  — 
houses,  farms,  &c.  —  at  various  points  of  the  Union,  and  all 
well  tenanted  by  people  engaged  in  all  the  multifarious 
branches  of  industry  ;  and  Mr.  A.  appoints  Mr.  B.  his  agent, 
to  collect  rents,  and  pay  Mr.  A.'s  orderg  on  him  for  money  so 
collected.  Mr.  B.  engages  to  pay  all  orders  drawn  by  Mr. 
A.  in  gold  or  silwr,  or  their  equivalent,  and  gives  Mr.  A. 
ample  security  for  doing  so. 

Mr.  B.  the  agent,  finds  on  entering  into  the  business  of 
his  agency,  that  nearly  all  these  tenants  would  be  better 
able  to  pay  their  rents,  if  Mr.  B.  the  agent,  could  manage 
to  take  notes  and  drafts,  which  they  have  been  induced  to 
take  from  their  dealers  in  the  course  of  their  trade,  because 
they  raise  produce,  or  manufacture  articles,  which  they  sell 
to  persons  near,  oi*  persons  distant.  Mr.  B.  the  agent,  sees 


38 

that  he  can  facilitate  matters  by  making  an  arrangement  to 
take  these  notes  and  drafts,  and  collecting  them  feon*  these 
tenants,  and  so  he  organizes  agencies  all  over  the  country 
to  effect  this  object,  and  which  he  can  do  cheaper  than  the 
tenants  can,  for  that  is  not  so  much  their  trade.  Now  the 
cost  of  collecting  and  discounting  these  notes  and  drafts, 
and  transmuting  them  into  current  money,  is  a  matter  be- 
tween these  tenants  and  Mr.  B.  the  agent.  It  is  pretty  clear 
if  Mr.  B.  does  not  do  it  as  cheap  as  they  can  do  it,  or  others 
for  them,  he  would  not  get  .their  custom.  Mr.  B.  can  thus 
go  on,  and  knowing  when  ms  principal,  Mr.  A.  will  want 
his  money,  he  can  so  arrange  matters  as  to  accommodate 
all  round  ;  and  so  long  as  he  pays  the  money  he  collects  to 
the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  persons  who  have  claims  on 
Mr.  A..  Mr.  A.  has  no  cause  of  complaint,  and  all  goes  on 
smoothly  ;  and  thus,  "  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  Mr. 
A.,  through  his  agent  Mr.  B.,'  are  kept  in  harmony  with  the 
trade  of  the  tenants. 

Now  suppose  Mr.  A.  concludes  to  try  an  experiment, 
and  issues  a  specie  circular,  and  tells  his  agent,  Mr.  B.  to 
receive  nothing  but  gold  or  silver,  or  turns  him  out  of  office, 
breaks  up  his  arrangement  for  transmuting  exchanges,  and 
declares  that  the  tenants  must  pay  rent  only  in  gold  or 
silver. 

Well,  they  try  it,  but  it  goes  hard  with  them.  Some,  to 
get  gold  and  silver,  have  to  make  large  sacrifices — others 
cannot  afford  to  do  it — they  try  their  best,  but  they  cannot 
do  it — they  have  property,  but  it  is  not  gold  or  silver  yet,  and 
the  process  of  getting  these  metals  is  a  new  trade  to  them, 
and  before  they  can  learn  it,  they  must  either  change  lodg- 
ings, or  suspend  payment  of  rent.  This  is  "  Sub-  Treasury ;" 
its  result  is,  Mr.  A.  gets  no  rent — his  revenue  is  short — his 
tenants  are  knocked  up, — he  is  knocked  up, — all  are  knocked 


39 

up, — A.,  B.,  and  the  rest  of  the  alphabet, — in  consequence 
of  the  experiment. 

Is  it  strange  that  the  whole  tenantry  should  desire  a 
change  of  such  an  experiment  ?  or  that  a  change  should 
follow  the  first  chance  at  the  ballot-boxes  ? 

«  ONE  OF  THE  PEOPLE." 


*<l 

fQ 


